This is what Dr. Robb Bennett, Seed Pest Management Officer with the British Columbia Ministry of Forests had to say about my spider inquiry:
"The spider is a mature female "linyphioid" but I'm not positive which one as there is no way I can judge the size of the spider from the images (and also of course can't see the characters needed for positive ID) ... if the spider is 'big' (body and legs a couple or three centimetres long) it is probably a pimoid -- Pimoa altioculata ... Pimoa is usually in webs on the bark of old Douglas-fir trees or on underside of rocks or logs ..."
A trip to the University of Victoria Library and a few trips back in the forest and we can nail this one for good.

After I provided additional information about size and habitat to Dr. Robb Bennett this is what we added to his previous diagnosis:
"With the new detail in your description, there is no doubt in my mind now that your spider is Pimoa altioculata. Check out the bark of old Douglas-fir trees on cool damp calm evenings this fall. If there are horizontal sheet webs in the crevices, these will be Pimoa webs and you will see the females hanging on the underside of the webs on at least some of them. They disturb easily and will hide quickly. You may also be able to see males either in the webs with some of the females or wandering on the bark. Any subterranean cavity is a good place to look for them as well. I find lots in my woodpile every fall, underside of rocks and caves are also usually productive. Have fun!"
I most certainly will, and I hope to get some more pictures with the web included this time.

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